Digimon Adventure: Rise of the Morning Star
by LilGreenFairy
Summary: Lucemon has been locked away deep below the Digital World but one boy will stop at nothing to free his master.It is up to the digidestined to keep him from rising and seeking his vengeance on those who locked him away.They need to learn how to be a team and they need to learn to trust each other because the fates of both worlds lies in their hands.
1. A Brush With Darkness

**Hello Everyone this is the sequel to Digimon Adventure: The Next Generation rewritten. I watched the movie recently and was inspired. After reading over the stories I had written I decided that I didn't like where the sequel was headed so I decided to rewrite it. I don't know how frequently I'll be updating but I'll try to be quick. I hope you guys like the story and I'm sorry if any of you like the other sequel better but to me it had to go. **

**I don't own Digimon**

**Chapter One:**

**A Brush With Darkness**

Andrea clipped her digivice onto one of the belt loops of her denim shorts. She rolled the sleeves of her dark blue and red plaid shirt up to her elbows but did nothing to the sleeves of her black long sleeve. For three years she's been hiding her arms underneath long sleeves partly because she hated seeing the skull mark on her left forearm and partly because she wanted to hide the scars on her wrists. She had a weak moment a couple years back that resulted in a trip to the hospital, more therapy, and a permanent reminder of said weak moment. Her left forearm throbbed painfully drawing her thoughts away from what she now referred to as 'the incident.'

"Lenny?" She said questioningly when she opened the door. The boy standing in front of her looked nothing like her friend. His hair was longer and messy in an intentional kind of way but what got her was that it was pitch black instead of navy blue. A slim silver ring was situated on his bottom lip, his eyebrow was pierced with a silver barbell, and his ears were pierced with several round studs. "What happened to you?"

A crooked grin spread across his face. "I thought it was time for a change, what do you think?"

She thought that he looked attractive as hell but she wasn't going to tell him that. Instead she opted for saying, "It suits you."

"Thanks, that's what my mom said after she got over the initial shock." Lenny laughed. "You ready to go?"

"Not quite." She said turning around. With a jumbled mind she hunted around her apartment for her phone, keys, and digimon partner. The sight of Lenny in black skinny jeans, a light grey V-neck, a dark green plaid shirt, and black combat boots had turned her brain into mush. Under her breath she muttered, "Damn him."

She found Gabumon, her phone, and her keys exactly where she had left them, in her room. After shoving her phone and keys into her pocket and taking a minute to compose herself she walked out of her room with Gabumon in tow. Silently she put on her navy blue Converse and smoothed out an invisible wrinkle on her black tights.

"So where's your dad?" Lenny asked extending his hand out to her.

"Work." She answered taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet. "Don't worry he knows about today's trip to the digital world."

After locking the front door and an awkward trip down the elevator the two of them eased into a conversation about their summers. Slowly the awkwardness between them disappeared and they settled back in to their comfortable friendship. Neither of them knew how it happened but in the three years since they defeated the Nightmare King they became close friends, best friends though Andrea had yet to admit it to herself that that's what they were. She still wasn't good at the whole friendship thing and couldn't fathom why she was the one entrusted with the crest of friendship.

"Andi," The urgent tone in Gabumon's voice stopped her in her tracks. She looked down at her digimon partner, he pointed toward one of the parking spaces and said, "Your mom's here."

Both Lenny and Andrea turned their heads in the direction Gabumon was pointing to. At the sight of the woman who abandoned her Andrea started to shake, her hands clenched into fists, and she took a purposeful step forward. Lenny, knowing that these were the tell-tell signs that Andrea was angry blocked her advance. He placed both hands on her shoulders and held her gaze with his own.

"Let me go." She growled.

"No." He said firmly. "You don't think straight when you're mad, so take a deep breath and calm down."

"You sound like my shrink." She grumbled smacking him across the chest lightly. "I hate my shrink."

His lips spread into that crooked grin he'd given her earlier. "I thought you didn't do passionate emotions."

"Okay then I severely dislike my shrink and if you keep at it you'll be added to the list of people I severely dislike." She said not really meaning it.

"You would never put me on that list." He said surely.

Giving him a sly grin she asked, "What makes you so sure?"

"I hate to interrupt, whatever this is, but I would like to talk to Andrea."

Lenny took his hands off of her shoulders and moved to stand beside her. Closing her eyes she inhaled and exhaled, just like her therapist said to do. When she was good and ready to face her mother she reopened her eyes.

In a tight voice she asked, "What do you want?"

"That's no way to talk to your mother, did your father not teach you any manners?" Marisol asked in a disbelieving tone. Andrea dropped her gaze down to the floor and bit back a string of colorful curses. "Look at me Andrea Renee."

"Look I have somewhere to be so can you just get to the point of your little visit." Andrea said in the same hateful tone she used to speak to her dad with.

"I'm sorry if I'm keeping you and your boyfriend from getting high at the local park." Her mother sneered.

Lenny was thankful that Andrea was too shocked to move it gave him the perfect opportunity to grab her and hold her in place so that when the shock wore off she wouldn't attack her mother. Surely enough when the shock of having her mother accuse her of doing drugs Andrea thrashed and squirmed trying to break out of his iron tight hold.

"Let go of me Leonard!" She yelled at him. His response was to tighten his hold around her slim waist. "She deserves to meet my fist."

"You can't hit her." Lenny said.

"I don't give a fuck, she deserves it." Andrea said not yielding in her attempt to break free of Lenny's arms; arms that she only now noticed were lean and muscular. She shook her head. "She just can't come here and say that to me."

"What's going on here?" At the sound of her dad's voice Andrea gave up trying get out of Lenny's hold. Matt looked from his ex-wife to his daughter to the black haired boy holding her. "Lenny is that you?"

"Yeah." Lenny said with a nervous chuckle. He released Andrea but kept close to her in case she sprang forward.

"I think your ex-wife wants to talk to you." Andrea said noticing the change in her mother's demeanor and emotions now that her dad was here. Grabbing Lenny's wrist she said, "We'll be going now."

**Izzy's Lab…**

"Leonard and Blondie are late." Luke said not bothering to hide his irritation. "It doesn't take this long to get from Blondie's place to here. What could they possibly be doing?"

"Hopefully sucking each others faces." Hannah said so quietly that only Luke heard her. Hannah may never admit it out loud but she was in fact very jealous of the blonde haired girl because she suspected that deep down Luke harbored feelings toward her.

Luke glared at her telling her that he didn't appreciate the comment. The door to the room swung open and Hannah took Luke's hand into hers. Andrea didn't so much glance in their direction she merely followed the newly transformed Lenny toward her cousin. Hannah watched as they exchanged hushed words before JT pulled his cousin into a side hug. She looked up at her boyfriend and found that he was glaring at Lenny; if looks could kill Hannah was certain Lenny would be dead. Luke and Lenny had been at odds since they started high school last year because Lenny had been placed on the varsity soccer team and Luke on the freshman team. Hannah suspected that Luke didn't like Lenny because he was close to Andrea. It made her blood boil.

"So now that we're all here we can finally get going." Luke said making sure to glare at the two late arrivals.

**Digital World…**

Hiding behind a tree Ayden spied on the digidestined, his sister and the kid with the orange sunglasses were having an argument. He noticed that they did that a lot. Like he knew she would his sister shoved passed the boy and walked away from the group.

"Wait until she's deep enough in the forest then give her hell Wingdramon." He said to his partner. "Gabumon shouldn't be a problem, he can't go beyond champion."

"That's where you're wrong, my friend." A voice said from behind him.

"You're not my friend Jun." Ayden said turning around to face the older boy. "What do you want?"

"What's rightfully mine." Jun answered pointing to the crest around Ayden's neck. "Hand it over before I forcibly remove it from you neck."

With a smirk the younger boy disappeared into the shadows leaving the older boy alone in the forest. Dragging a hand through his light brown hair Jun groaned. He'd have to fight the boy to get back what was rightfully his.

"Cyberdramon, its time we fight back." He said as his partner joined him. "Lets go find Goldilocks before he does."

"What's the plan?" Cyberdramon asked.

"Get the digidestined to do the hard work then swoop in and swap the crests." He said to his digimon partner.

"How are you sure they'll help you."

"Leverage." He said taking the crest of friendship out from the pocket of his torn blue jeans.

**Real World…**

"Three years ago I found a digivice in Ayden's room. I didn't think much of it since he didn't really know what it was but after Andrea came to the house he started to shy away from me. He'd disappear for hours and I knew that he found his way into the digital world." Marisol said as Matt drove them toward Izzy's lab. "About a month ago he came back different."

"What do you mean by different?" Matt asked hoping that his son hadn't gone down the same path his daughter had.

"He came back angry and hostile. He won't talk to me or his father or his brother." Matt wanted to point out that he was Ayden's father but didn't because it wasn't the right time to bring that up. "He spends all of his time locked up in his room listening to horrible music. He talks back to me and curses all of the time. It feels like he hates me and everything else in the world. Do you know what its like to be hated by your child?"

"Actually I do." Matt said. He knew the feeling all to well after all Andrea spent most of her life hating him because he was her father. It was misplaced hatred according to their family therapist. Without elaborating he led Mari into the lab. "What did you say to Andrea that had her so upset?"

"How can you let her hang out with that hoodlum?" Mari asked instead of answering his question.

"He's not a hoodlum, he's actually a great kid." Matt said. "What did you say to her?"

"Its nothing Matt."

"To you maybe but she's my daughter and when this is over I get to go home with her. I need to know what you said so I know what to say to smooth this all over later." Matt said pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew by the way Andrea's eyes had glossed over that whatever Marisol had said was bad.

"I accused her of doing drugs with that kid." Marisol said quietly.

It took everything Matt had in him to not blow up at his ex-wife. Luckily for her Izzy came running down the hallway.

"The kids are under attack."

**Digital World…**

"**Blaze Sonic Breath!" **

"**Howling Blaster!" **

Andrea took off running back toward the group. She didn't see the boy until she was sprawled on top of him. He muttered a couple of choice words before opening his eyes. A cocky grin formed on his lips.

"As much as I like being in this position with you Goldilocks the dragon attacking you takes precedence over this." He said laughing when her cheeks tinted a light shade of pink.

"Jackass." Andrea said pushing herself off of him.

"Did anybody ever tell you that you're positively scary when you're angry?" He asked standing up and dusting the dirt off of his jeans. "If they did they forgot to mention how hot you look all pissed off. Now I need you and your little friends to help me with something Goldilocks."

Pushing past him Andrea said, "What makes you think we'll help you with anything?"

"If you don't you won't get your crest back." He said holding up her crest. "Now why didn't you come looking for this after you lost it? Could it be because it doesn't work for you and you thought it wasn't worth coming back for?"

"What do you want?" Andrea said not giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right about why she hadn't searched for her crest after losing it.

"Draw out your dear brother and keep Wingdramon busy, leave the rest to me." He said as they walked back toward the group.

Lenny and JT were the first and only two to ask her if she was okay. Luke glared at the boy standing beside her and the boy, who introduced himself as Jun, told her that jealous boyfriends turned out to be abusers. She shot him a glare and told her that Luke wasn't her boyfriend, that they weren't even friends. He muttered something that sounded a lot like 'good' before explaining their situation and his plan.

Wingdramon, Cyberdramon, and DarkWereGarurumon came bursting through the trees only to meet a group of fully digivolved digimon. Andrea didn't know how to lure her brother out and Jun gave her nothing to go on beside the fact that Ayden wanted to see her. She turned to look at Lenny and JT, they both shrugged.

"Ayden! I'm here so lets talk!" She yelled not knowing what else to do. She felt it, the darkness. Turning around she came face to face with the twelve year old she had only known for a couple of months. "Ayden."

"Sister." Ayden said looking her over.

"Andrea, my name is Andrea." She said taking in a deep breath. "You wanted to talk."

"I did now I'm not so sure. I don't know what to say to you."

"I'm not very good with words." Andrea said feeling the darkness that was seeping out of him and not liking it.

Before Ayden could say anything Jun grabbed him from behind. He swapped the crests and a teal light engulfed the clearing. Andrea felt the darkness leave her brother and when she looked at Jun she noticed that his green eyes had darkened and there was a burst of black around the pupil. He oozed darkness but for some reason it suited him. He let Ayden fall to the ground, stepped around him, and walked toward her. Hooking a finger in one of her belt loops he pulled her close to him, with his free hand he put her crest on her.

"Don't lose it again Goldilocks, I may not find it next time." He said lowly.

"Personal space, buddy." She growled shoving him off of her.

"Feisty, I like." He said winking at her before disappearing.

Her dad came running through the trees. He looked from her to the heap that was her brother on the ground. Without hesitating he came toward them and roused her brother. She stood awkwardly behind her dad as he talked to Ayden; he dad was good with words unlike her. When it was her turn to say something she sputtered out something lame, how could she talk to the boy her mother didn't abandon. Before they could try to get her more engaged in their conversation she walked over to where Lenny stood.

"You okay?" Lenny asked noticing how she was tugging at the sleeves of her black shirt.

"I don't think so." She said watching her dad interact with Ayden. "Everything's going to change and I'm not so good with change."

**To be continued...**

**Please review and give me your thoughts about it. **


	2. The Blue Light of Friendship

**So here's chapter two. Please this is a sequel so if you haven't already read Digimon Adventure: The Next Generation before going any further. I hope you guys like the chapter its undergone several rewrites over the past couple of days. **

**Chapter Two: The Blue Light of Friendship**

Lenny's arms tightened around her waist as Garurumon picked up speed. He glanced over his shoulder to see how Stingmon was doing against Cyberdramon. His partner wasn't faring well against the ultimate level digimon. Andrea whispered something that he didn't catch into Garurumon's ear and the digimon stopped.

"We can't stop they're gaining on us." Lenny said in a panicked tone.

"Stingmon needs help." Andrea said hopping off of her digimon partner. She looked up at Lenny, her ice blue eyes serious. "He can't hold him off by himself and Dan's not here so you guys can DNA digivolve. They can keep them off of us while we run."

Nodding he jumped off of the wolf-like digimon. Garurumon gave Andrea a toothy grin before running off to join Stingmon. The blond-haired girl watched her partner disappear into the trees and tried not to think that maybe two champions weren't enough to hold back their enemy. She shook her head remembering that Garurumon was slightly stronger than champion level thanks to what they went through three years ago.

"He'll be fine." Lenny said reassuringly.

"I know." Andrea mumbled looking her friend in the eyes. "I just hope it doesn't come to the point where he'll have no choice but to digivolve to DarkWereGarurumon."

"Hopefully the others get here before that becomes a necessity." Lenny said knowing that despite the fact that Gabumon would forever be able to digivolve darkly Andrea didn't want to rely on the darkness within them anymore. Pushing her forward he said, "Come on lets go."

* * *

Luke had really hoped that Lenny and Andrea could keep Cyberdramon and his friends away from the tunnel. At the realization that the furthest both of their digimon could digivolve was to the champion level he sent Dan, Zoey, and Hannah to help them. All this could have been avoided had he sent someone else in the beginning but the blond-haired girl had volunteered immediately after he told the group where they were going. He hadn't missed the brief flicker of fear in her eyes when he told them that they were checking out a disturbance at the gates of the Digital Underworld.

"What do you think is down there?" Luke asked Ian. He wanted to know what could possibly be locked behind the gates that would have Andrea scared, she didn't scare easily.

"I don't know, dad's never mentioned the Digital Underworld before now." The redhead replied. "Whatever it is, it can't be good."

Placing his sunglasses on his head Luke said, "We better be prepared for anything then." He looked over at Maya, Shelly, and JT. "Have Gatomon, Patamon, and Palmon digivolve. We have to be prepared in case we're attacked."

The three nodded and looked down at their partners. After the three of them were at ultimate level they continued following the old train tracks. Ian pulled out his tablet and stared at the map of the Underground, they were almost to their destination.

"Did you guys feel that?" Maya asked as they passed through a large archway.

"I did." Luke said.

"Me too." Johnny said looking back at the archway.

"Feel what?" JT asked arching an eyebrow questioningly at the three of them.

"The bone-chilling cold." Maya answered.

"I've only felt that once before." Luke said remembering the time he had let the darkness devour him. Suddenly he understood why Andrea hadn't wanted to come with them, they were headed into the darkest place in the digital world, the darkness would have taken her. "Blondie knows what's down there."

"What do you mean Luke?" Sara asked gripping his forearm tightly.

"She knows what's locked behind the gates and didn't tell us, she was too scared because whatever is down there is worse than the Nightmare King." Luke said surprised that he'd gotten all of that out of the brief moment he had seen fear pool into those sky blue eyes.

* * *

"**Fist of the Beast King!"**

The attack knocked the enemies in their way aside. Andrea stopped running and searched the trees for their ally. She knew he was Judai's digimon partner and therefore one of them. He had yet to reveal himself as the digimon of loyalty and join their group because he feared that he wouldn't be forgiven for what he did when he was under the Nightmare King's control.

"Hey you overgrown housecat there's no need to hide from us." She said looking in the direction she knew he was hiding in.

"Charming as ever Andrea." Leomon said stepping out from behind the trees.

Beside her Lenny tensed. She grabbed his hand and said, "He's good now, he's one of us." Lenny nodded but kept his eyes narrowed at the lion. "What are you doing here?"

"Lucemon has awakened." Leomon responded. Andrea's grip on Lenny's hand tightened as Leomon's words sunk in and panic started to take over. "He's still locked behind the gate but it won't be long before his digidestined finds a way to free him."

"He has a partner?" Andrea asked noticing that Lenny was drawing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.

"No, he's chosen children, much like Azulongmon chose you, to defend him and the Digital Underworld." Leomon said.

"The Digital World has an Underworld?" Dan asked stepping out of the trees with Zoey and Hannah in tow.

Choosing to ignore the fact that her brother and Andrea were holding hands Zoey asked, "Are you saying that there are evil digidestined?"

"Yes to both of your questions." Leomon said.

"Who locked Lucemon away?" Hannah asked.

"The ancient warriors defeated him and the three angels put him in an eternal slumber." Leomon answered.

"What a knowledgeable kitty." A deep voice said teasingly. A boy with pitch-black hair and steely grey eyes stepped out of the shadows. Leomon stepped in front of the small group, his stance defensive. "Don't worry digidestined, I'll be merciful and grant your digimon a swift end." With a snap of his fingers a vicious looking three-headed dog appeared beside him. "Cerberumon go help Cyberdramon rip their digimon to shreds."

"Yes Yuichi." Cerberumon growled.

* * *

Standing behind the wrought iron gates was Jun who Luke now recognized as their principal's problem son, a girl he was sure he'd seen around school, and a boy he recognized from his math class. Jun said something to the girl, she nodded and looked over her shoulder at the digimon Luke assumed was her partner. At the sight of the fallen angel digimon Angewomon growled.

"Long time no see Blondie." LadyDevimon sneered.

Angewomon started forward but MagnaAngemon caught her wrist before she could go far. "She's taunting you."

"I want to wipe that smirk off of her face." Angewomon growled.

"She'll wipe the floor with you Angel." MagnaAngemon's head snapped up at the sound of the new voice. Standing next to LadyDevimon was another fallen angel digimon. "What's the matter?"

"NeoDevimon." Ian said looking at the description on his tablet.

"What's the digimon behind him?" Shelly asked pointing to the dragon-like digimon behind NeoDevimon.

"Devidramon." Ian answered quickly counting how many there were. He looked at Luke. "Any ideas?"

"Just one." Luke said unclipping his digivice and gripping it tightly in his hand. "We fight."

"They want to fight Junichi." The girl said in a sultry tone that made both Maya and Shelly want to gag. "What do you say we take this fight to the surface? See if Yuichi hasn't finished with their friends."

Jun nodded and with a flick of his wrist they were no longer standing in the Underworld but in the clearing that the others were in. Luke automatically found Hannah and then Andrea who was trying to rouse an unconscious Garurumon. Those who weren't already digivolved did and joined the fight. Somehow Andrea managed to wake her partner and he joined SaberLeomon in the fight against Cerberumon. Luke didn't have time to ask what in the world Leomon was doing there when Beelzemon, Sunflowmon, and Wingdramon came into the clearing.

With the three new arrivals the tide of the battle turned in favor of the digidestined. Luke wished that Garurumon could digivolve further than champion that way they could DNA digivolve again and win this easily. Only because Garurumon wasn't able to hold on anymore Andrea allowed the dark digivolution. DarkWereGarurumon, Beelzemon, and SaberLeomon easily subdued Cerberumon.

"Still relying on the dark to save you Goldilocks." Jun said looking over at Cyberdramon who was squaring off with Paildramon. "You'd be better off as one of us than one of them."

Andrea pretended not to be bothered by his comment and followed his gaze. It was settled not on Paildramon but shifting between Lenny and Cyberdramon. She didn't think about what would happen to her, her only thought was that she couldn't allow Lenny to get hurt. Before Lenny could realize what she was doing she pushed him out of the way. The attack intended for him never hit her, instead it collided with one of MetalGreymon's giga missiles. She looked over at Luke who gave her a tight grin and a thumb's up, she nodded in appreciation.

"What were you thinking?" Lenny asked.

"That I couldn't let you get hurt." Andrea said sitting up. "Friends look after one another and after realizing that you would have done the same there wasn't any other choice."

"You're stu—" Lenny started but at the faint blue glow coming from underneath her red and grey plaid shirt stopped mid-word. "Your crest its glowing."

"Huh?" Andrea said looking down at her chest. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers when she saw the blue glow intensify. "A small amount of kindness can turn into the truest of friendships. Friendship ensures that there is always someone there no matter the circumstance." Andrea whispered, she heard it echo in the voices of Beelzemon, SaberLeomon, and DarkWereGarurumon.

Every eye in the clearing was fixed on the blue glow coming from the crest they never thought would glow. Slowly they shifted their gazes to DarkWereGarurumon, he turned back into Gabumon.

"**Gabumon Digivolve to...Garurumon."**

**"Garurumon digivolve to...WereGarurumon." **

The digidestined stared in awe at Gabumon's true final form. He flashed them a confident toothy grin before kicking NeoDevimon into an oncoming Cyberdramon. With renewed effort the digidestined's digimon fought back knocking away the enemy digimon until only LadyDevimon, NeoDevimon, Cyberdramon, and Cerberumon were left. With one powerful kick WereGarurumon knocked Cyberdramon back into his in-training form.

"We should go back and find the others." the green-haired boy said to Jun.

"Reizo's right." the girl with the long curly black hair said. She gripped Jun's arm. "We're only at half strength without the others and now all of their digimon can digivolve to ultimate." She glared at Andrea and Luke. "Soon those two will be able to go mega and then they'll DNA digivolve, we have to find a way to let Him out before then."

"I get it Asami." Jun said. He looked at the digidestined, particularly at the blonde he was so fond of and said, "We'll meet again and the outcome will be different." With a flick of his wrist all of them disappeared from the clearing.

* * *

"So now Gabumon can digivolve to ultimate." Izzy said as the kids finished telling him of what happened on their trip to the digital world. He looked to Andrea who was sitting in front of the couch with a sleeping Tsunomom on her lap. "This is good."

"If Lucemon is released we're so screwed." Andrea said.

Lenny nudged her side with the tip of his boot. She looked up at him. "We'll just have to do everything in our power to keep them from releasing him."

"It won't be easy but we can do it." Luke said and everybody nodded in agreement. "We'll do whatever we have to in order to keep the digital world safe, we're the digidestined its our job."

Andrea didn't want to mention that they've never faced someone like Lucemon. Eventually she'd have to tell them the stories but right now she wouldn't say anything that would crush their fighting spirit.

"School's going to suck tomorrow." Dan said stretching his arms above his head.

Izzy laughed at the cumulative groan the teenagers let out.

**To be continued...**

**So what did you guys think? Did you love it? Did you hate it? What do you think will happen next? Should I continue or hang my head in shame? **

**Please drop a review, I LOVE feedback. (:**


	3. Learning a Thing or Two

**I don't own digimon.**

**Chapter Three:**

**Learning a Thing or Two**

Ignoring Lenny's outstretched hand Luke got to his feet. He surveyed the area wondering where the others ended up. Without a word to the Ichijouji boy he started forward mentally cursing his luck. He would get stuck in the middle of a forest with one of the people he couldn't stand. With the tip of his shoe he kicked a large rock forward a couple feet, Mr. Perfection would have been able to kick it further. He disliked Lenny for the mere fact that he was one of those people where everything came naturally to them, the people that didn't have to try to be great they just were. Being around Lenny made him feel inferior.

"What's up Luke?" Agumon asked breaking the silence that had settled over them like a thick blanket.

"Nothing." Luke mumbled.

"Look Luke I know that this isn't the time but you look like you could use a little pick me up." Lenny said jogging up to him. "Coach has been looking for Takumi's replacement and I convinced him that you're it. Starting Monday you're practicing with us, if you want to."

Luke couldn't believe his ears; he was going to play varsity soccer for the year. Sure it was at the expense of another player but he didn't care because the varsity team captain had convinced their coach that he was good enough for the team. "Of course I want to!" He yelled grinning ear-to-ear. He couldn't wait to tell his dad, he'd be so proud.

"We're definitely going to kick ass this year." Lenny said.

"So sure of your team's ability on the field, aren't you Ichijouji?" Lenny stopped mid-stride and turned around to find one of the members of his club team standing in front of them a digimon by his side.

"Isamu." Lenny said. He looked down at his partner and then up at Luke.

"You're digimon aren't a match for Sagomon." Isamu laughed.

"We'll see." Luke growled. "Agumon its time to digivolve."

"**Agumon digivolve to…Greymon."**

"**Wormmon digivolve to…Stingmon."**

* * *

"Digi-armor energize!" Dan yelled.

"**Veemon armor digivolve to…Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship."**

"Veemon hasn't digivolved to Raidramon before." Andrea said to a pleasantly surprised Dan.

"He couldn't before now." Dan said. At Andrea's confused expression he added, "When Gennai told me, Hannah, and Zoey that our digimon's main form of evolution was the armor digivolution he explained that it would only work when the crest corresponding to our digi-eggs glowed."

"Why were Veemon and Hawkmon able to armor digivolve before Lucas and Sara's crests glowed?" Andrea asked as they watched their digimon fight against Cerberumon.

"Gennai was just as surprised as we were when that happened. He couldn't come up with an explanation but I think it has to do with the fact that we exhibited the traits of love and courage before Luke and Sara." Dan said wincing as Cerberumon knocked Garurumon into Raidramon.

"Garurumon!" Andrea yelled.

"Digivolve again!" Dan yelled.

"**Garurumon digivolve to…Garurumon."**

The wolf like digimon gave his partner a confused expression, he hadn't digivolved. A crazed laugh filled the forest. Dan and Andrea looked around for the source of the laugh. After calming down Andrea was able to pinpoint the direction of the laughter.

"You won't be digivolving to ultimate anytime soon." Yuichi taunted as he stepped into view. He held up a necklace with a circular pendant hanging off of the black chain for them to see. "You guys have the pleasure of being the firsts to see a dark crest, its powers keep you weaklings from reaching ultimate and mega level."

"Well that's problematic." Andrea said.

* * *

JT pulled Hannah to her feet and didn't let go of her hand as they ran through the forest. His mind was split between getting away and trying to find a reason why Angemon couldn't digivolve. They reached the end of the forest and JT figured that it was either fall off the cliff or fight NeoDevimon until he retreated. He looked down at Hannah, unsure if he could trust her, she looked up at him determined to do whatever it took to get out of this mess.

"We can do this." She said bringing out her digivice. "Digi-armor energize!"

"**Armadillomon armor digivolve to…Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge." **

"Without the ability to digivolve to ultimate there is no way you'll stop us." Reizo laughed as he watched NeoDevimon dodge Digmon and Angemon's attacks. "Lucemon will be released and the Digital World will be his."

"As long as we're here that's never going to happen." Hannah said.

"We'll find a way around this no digivolving to ultimate thing because as long as there's a world that needs protecting you can bet we're going to be there to protect it." JT said.

Without warning Digmon reverted back to Armadillomon and digivolved to his champion form. A bright white light erupted from both JT and Hannah's D-powers. The two digidestined looked at each other then at their digivices that were now yellow and white. Looking back at each other they realized what was happening, their digimon were going to DNA digivolve.

"**Ankylomon…Angemon DNA digivolve to…Shakkoumon." **

"Holy hell we just created an ultimate level digimon." JT said to Hannah.

"B-but h-how?" Reizo stuttered.

"No idea but…" JT started.

"It's time for a real fight." Hannah finished.

* * *

Zoey marched away from the brunette she had once called her best friend. When Maya started high school she joined the cheer squad while Zoey was already deeply devoted to the computer club. Maya drifted away from Zoey because she was ashamed to be seen with someone so low on the social ladder. The end of their friendship happened when Zoey confronted Maya about how much she'd changed since starting high school. Maya refusing to give up her newfound popularity was the one to end their friendship, eventually Zoey moved on and found a friend in Ian.

"Boy were we wrong when we assumed that Andrea was the one who didn't know the meaning of friendship." Zoey said loudly not caring if Maya heard her.

"I am not like her!" Maya yelled defensively.

"Of course you're not because unlike her you abandon your best friends for popularity." Zoey snarled. "For your information those girls you call friends don't even like you."

"You're just upset that you don't have any friends!" Maya yelled.

"I have friends that I know have my back." Zoey said picking up her pace.

Before Maya could say anything an attack flew passed them hitting the ground in front of Zoey. Hawkmon was in his champion form before Maya could blink. She looked around and saw that LadyDevimon had been the one to attack them.

"Gatomon its time to digivolve." Maya said holding out her D-power.

"That's not going to work." The girl named Asami said. "The dark crests keep you guys from fully digivolving."

"Dark crests?" Zoey said.

"We're toast." Gatomon said.

"**Darkness Wave!"**

The attack was aimed at an immobile Maya and Gatomon. "Auilamon!" Zoey shouted. Even if she and Maya didn't see eye to eye anymore there was no way Zoey was going to let her get hurt.

"**Blast rings!" **

The rings fired from Aquilamon's mouth pushed back LadyDevimon's attack. Maya and Gatomon watched as the giant eagle like digimon took on the fallen angel by himself. Maya couldn't believe that Zoey had risked her digimon's safety to help her when she's been so mean to her.

"Why did you save us?" Maya asked the bespectacled girl.

"Friends have each others backs." Zoey shrugged.

"But we're not friends." Maya said.

"Just because you stopped being my friend Maya doesn't mean I stopped being yours. I'm just waiting for you to realize who your real friends are." Zoey said.

"Zoey, I'm sorry for everything. I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness considering what a bitch I've been to you and your friends but I really want you to know that I am truly sorry for everything." Maya said looking at Zoey with sincere eyes.

"I accept your apology and if you want we can try to be friends again." Zoey said kicking an invisible pebble with the tip of her shoe.

"I'd like that." Maya said.

"Uh gag me." Asami groaned. A white light erupted from both Zoey and Maya's D-powers. "What's happening?"

"**Aquilamon…Gatomon DNA digivolve to…Silphymon."**

"No, that's not possible. They shouldn't be able to combine like that, Lucemon was sure only this generation's Veemon and Wormmon could DNA digivolve." Asami said in disbelief.

"Guess he was wrong." Silphymon said.

"LadyDevimon finish them!" Asami shrieked.

"**Darkness…"**

"**Static Force!" **The ball of energy caught LadyDevimon in the stomach and sent her back a couple of feet.

* * *

"I don't get it." Luke said in between breaths as he and Lenny came to a stop.

"What don't you get?" Lenny asked folding his arms behind his head.

"You're nice to me even though I hate you." Luke said taking to pacing the length of the clearing. "You told coach that I was the right guy to fill in for Takumi and back there you risked your neck to save me."

"I wasn't aware that you hated me Luke." Lenny said watching the older boy pace. "Why do you hate me?"

Turning around to face the Ichijouji boy Luke shouted, "Because you're the embodiment of perfection!"

A dark look crossed Lenny's face. "I'm not perfect Luke, no where near it in fact."

"Yes you are. You're good with people, you're in our school's top ten, you're a soccer superstar, and you're not horrible to look at! Everything comes naturally to you while the rest of us normal folk have to work our asses off to even be a fourth as great as you are!"

"You only see what you want to see Luke." Lenny said quietly. "Nothing is easy for me, especially schoolwork and social interactions. Zoey's the genius, she sets the bar and I'm expected to meet or surpass it. I struggle to keep my grades where they are because if they slip my mom goes on about how I could do better; she doesn't understand why math and science are difficult for me. I'm not good with people despite what it looks like; I'm actually quite shy and socially awkward. As for me being a soccer superstar it's all due years of practice and dedication, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into the sport."

"Wow I horribly misjudged you." Luke admitted. "How do you make it so that you appear all kept together?"

"People have high expectations and I can't let them down so I act like everything's under control." Lenny shrugged.

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you." Luke said. "I guess I fell for that act you put up and well let it keep me from seeing who you really are."

"Its all good." Lenny said.

"Do you think I make a good leader?" Luke asked his brown eyed locked on the ground. "Your expectations are to have and maintain good grades, mine are to lead this group to victory against everything that threatens the Digital World."

"You have the makings of a good leader you just need to mature a bit." Lenny said.

Before Luke could asked the black-haired boy what he meant Dan and Andrea burst into the clearing, looking like they'd gone to hell and back in the short time the group had been apart. They quickly explained how Garurumon couldn't digivolve to ultimate thanks to the dark crests Lucemon's digidestined were carrying and that Cerberumon had overpowered them.

"We need to make it to Gennai's house." Dan said looking to Luke for suggestions on how to accomplish this task.

"How far are we from his house Andrea?" Luke asked the blonde.

Shocked that he'd actually called her by her name it took Andrea a minute to process his question and come up with an answer. Lenny nudged her shoulder and pointed to her D-power. Shaking her surprise off she unclipped her digivice from her belt loop and brought up the Digital World map. She pointed to their current location and to Gennai's house, surprised to see that some of their friends had already made it to the house.

"So if we go in this direction we'll eventually meet up with Maya, Zoey, JT, and Hannah?" Luke asked tracing their desired path with his index finger.

"Yeah." Andrea said. She felt Lenny's worry and looked up to find him nervously biting on his lower lip. "What are you worried about?"

"If they're being attacked, my sister's digimon can only go to the champion level." Lenny said.

"Right now only Veemon and Wormmon can form an ultimate level digimon." Andrea said. "As long as those dark crests are around we're all stuck at champion level."

"This is going to be hard." Dan said.

"Don't worry we'll find a way around this." Luke said reassuringly. "Now lets get to Gennai's house."

* * *

Ian took his tablet from Gennai glad that he updated the digimon analyzer software and added a bunch of useful maps regarding the different area of the Digital World. Goamamon returned from the surface of the lake. The four digidestined and Gennai listened to the white seal like digimon as he told them that he caught sight of the others. They all ran outside and sure enough the rest of their group stumbled down the stairs.

"Glad you could make it." Gennai said to the eight digidestined currently slumped against one another on the ground.

"We almost died back there." Andrea said.

"But you didn't," Gennai said. He looked at them carefully, taking in their baby and in-training digimon. "And it seems that you learned a thing or two on your way over here, DNA digivolution being one of them."

"Yeah but that's the only way to get to ultimate and not all of our digimon can do it." Luke said standing up. "What are we going to do?"

"You're going to find the ten spirits of the Legendary Warriors." Gennai said earning twelve confused stares. "The Legendary Warriors were the one who originally defeated Lucemon and in case of his return sealed away their spirits so that they could defeat him once again. With the exception of JT and Maya each of you has been chosen to be a Keeper of one of the ten spirits."

"Why not us?" Maya asked pointing between herself and JT.

"You were chosen to be the ones partnered with two of the three Celestial Digimon, Seraphimon and Ophanimon." He answered looking down at Patamon and Gatomon.

"So if we find these spirits we'll be able to save the Digital World from Lucemon?" Johnny asked.

"Yes." Gennai said.

"Well then it looks like we have a mission." Luke said.

**To be continued...**

**Please review.**


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